It’s a common nightmare: One second you’re standing on solid ground just minding your own business, and the next you’re falling through the air, screaming all the way down. Now imagine if that dream were real. Feeling anxious yet? Place your feet firmly on the ground, because things are about to get serious.
Meet Luke Aikins, a daredevil skydiver — he’s the guy in the tasteful lime green in the video below — who just plunged from 25,000 feet without any sort of safety device, save for a football field sized net waiting below. A net that had already proven to be less than perfect when a crash test dummy tore right through it during a test.
You ready for this? Because it’s pretty intense. And even Aikins, a veteran skydiver who’s completed more than 18,000 jumps, admitted that he was nervous about plummeting at 120 miles per hour towards history.
The Fresno Bee reports that jumps such as Aikins’ have been attempted before, but the jumper has always had someone to help them in case something went wrong. Aikins, on the other hand, had no one. Not only that, but he had to flip himself upside down in midair so he’d land on his back.
Watch the entire thing to live through the whole experience with Aikins (it’s a satisfying slow burn) or skip right to the middle and bite your nails as you anxiously wait to discover if he makes it. (Enjoy the rush of relief when he does!) Just, you know, don’t try this at home.
